Educational Attitude Changes during Year-Long Student Teaching

A year-long, clustered student teaching program is examined over a two-year period for influence upon pre-service teacher attitudes toward education. The Educational Preference Scale is used in a pre- and post-design, and results are interpreted with reference to the theory of cognitive dissonance. Relationships between student teacher satisfaction with the field-based program and student teacher and supervising teacher attitudes toward education are documented. The relationship between educational attitudes of supervising teachers and the degree to which those teachers are perceived by student teachers as effective supervisors is discussed.The data, collected from 123 student teachers, 42 supervising teachers, and 3 schools, suggest that previous studies of attitudinal change during field placements have neglected the influence of long-term placements, multiple supervisors, and steady versus conflicting ideological pull. Total attitude change on the part of student teachers emerges as a function of the i...